Tom Cruise says he had to "train himself to breathe" for intense Mission: Impossible 8 stunts: "There were times I would pass out physically"

Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning
(Image credit: Paramount)

Tom Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie went all out for the last installment of the Mission: Impossible franchise.

"There would be a day in Africa - any day in Africa - where Tom would go out and do something that topped anything he had ever done before," McQuarrie told Empire. "I truly want to puke thinking about the stress. It was intense.”

"When you stick your face out, going over 120 to 130 miles an hour, you’re not getting oxygen," Cruise explained. "So I had to train myself how to breathe. There were times I would pass out physically; I was unable to get back into the cockpit."

Lauren Milici
Senior Entertainment Writer

Lauren Milici is a Senior Entertainment Writer for GamesRadar+ based in New York City. She previously reported on breaking news for The Independent's Indy100 and created TV and film listicles for Ranker. Her work has been published in Fandom, Nerdist, Paste Magazine, Vulture, PopSugar, Fangoria, and more.